Category Archives: Visa

India has resumed e-visa services for tourists of Canadian nationals after a pause of almost two months. The resumption of services for all categories of visas comes hours ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s participation in the virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit. Earlier in September, the Indian Mission in Canada suspended visa services for Canadian nationals until further notice, citing operational reasons.

Sharing his views on the resumption of e-tourist visa for Canadian nationals, Rajiv Mehra, President of IATO, says, “We are happy and pleased with this development as opening of visas for Canada which is one of the largest source market for India, will be a big booster shot for our inbound tourism. Hopefully, the tourist flow from Canada will begin by January. Also, we will urge the government to allow e-visa for Chinese visitors. While other visas are open for the Chinese travellers, the absence of e-visa is still an impediment for them. Hopefully, the government will consider this as well.”

VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions appointed Jose Manuel Aisa Mancho as its Chief Financial Officer effective 01 November 2023. He reports to Zubin Karkaria, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, and is based in Dubai, the organisation’s global headquarters. Jose joins VFS Global from Cellnex Telecom. He has over two decades of experience across the suite of finance sub-functions, including mergers & acquisitions, financial planning, investor relations, management control, treasury, and tax. He has previously worked in organisations that include Abertis Infrastructures, CriteriaCaixa and Cellnex. He was also a Non-Executive Officer in infrastructure companies such as Hispasat, Sanef or TBI Limited. Jose will be responsible for the overall Finance function at VFS Global, and will also be responsible for Legal, Data Privacy and Corporate Risk functions. Jose will leverage his rich experience in strengthening VFS Global’s finance function and developing strategies to support further growth and development of the company. As a member of the company’s Executive Board, he will also play a pivotal role in the overall strategic decision-making at VFS Global.

BLS International Services, a trusted global tech-enabled services partner for governments and citizens, announced its unaudited consolidated financial results for the quarter and six-month period ended September 30, 2023. Amongst several others, the company processes visa applications for Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Thailand, Hungary, Morocco, India, Vietnam, Malaysia and Slovakia. Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, BLS International Services, said, “We have continued our growth momentum into the second quarter of this fiscal. The Company’s performance has been in line with the expectations. Despite revenue growth of 14.3% year-on-year in the quarter, our EBITDA and PAT witnessed robust growth of 52.7% and 60.8% year-on-year, respectively. Favourable business mix resulted in the expansion of EBITDA margins, which sustained above the 20% mark this quarter. As key markets are opening up, we expect an increase in the number of visa applications. During the quarter, we signed up with the Government of Slovakia to offer outsourced visa services. Slovakia is becoming a hot spot for tourists, and we expect good volumes from the region. In addition, we rolled out Visa outsourcing centers for Hungary and Italy in various countries. On the Digital Services front, we tied up with Kotak Mahindra Bank to offer banking correspondence services, in line with our strategy to grow this line of business. Overall, we aim to continue focusing on spreading our reach far and wide with prudent emphasis on organic as well as inorganic growth while striving to maintain our internal rate of return threshold”. The company continues to witness strong operating results. For the quarter ended September 30, 2023, company’s consolidated revenue rose 14.3% YoY to Rs. 407.7 Cr, while operating EBITDA witnessed a growth of 52.7% to …

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has approved a unified tourist visa, much like the Schegen Zone, that will allow visitors to travel freely between all 6 GCC countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE. This is expected to be rolled out in 2024 – 2025. Specific regulations and legislation are to be prepared, with a projected implementation between 2024 and 2025, depending on the readiness of each GCC country’s internal systems. This initiative is an integral part of the GCC 2030 tourism strategy.  

The Sri Lankan Cabinet has approved a proposal to grant free visas to travellers from seven countries – India, China, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia – with immediate effect as part of a pilot project till 31 March. Tourists from these countries are now entitled to free visa.  

Lt.Colonel Dr. Ghalib Abdullah Hassan Al Majed Al Marri, Director of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence reiterated, “The new visa issuance application which process all the entry permits through AI solutions within 3 to 10 minutes with this new system. Travel agents apply through the smart portal, the main AI system  is comparison of pictures which is a new solution which expedite the process.

Fernando Heredia Noguer, Cónsul General, Consulate General of Spain in Mumbai. “This year we have have already crossed 80,000 by July end and we expect to do almost twice as much as compared to pre pandemic. We process visas in 48 working hours.”    

Continuing its trusted partnership with the Thailland government, VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, re-won the contract to process visa applications for Thailand from India. The company will cater to travellers from India across visa categories through visa application centres and drop off centres as per the jurisdiction of the Royal Thai Embassy in Delhi and Royal Thai Consulate General in Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai. VFS Global’s relationship with the Government of Thailand dates to nearly two decades. The company has processed more than 2.2 million Thai visa applications since 2005. As a part of the mandate, VFS Global will roll out drop box services in tier 2 cities such as Ranchi, Aurangabad, Bhopal, Indore, Nagpur, Nasik, Coimbatore, Mangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada, Currently the service is available at Agra, Amritsar, Dehradun, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Guwahati, Patna, Bihar, Bhubaneswar, Jamshedpur, Siliguri and Visakhapatnam. The VFS Global newest visa application centre (VAC) in Lucknow (a drop box facility earlier) will also accept applications for Thailand visas. “The renewal of the Thai visa contract attests to VFS Global’s superior business performance, commitment to improving customer experience, and unshakable faith placed in us by the 70 sovereign governments we work with, including Thailand,’’ said Prabuddha Sen, Chief Operating Officer – South Asia, VFS Global.

Online visa application platform Atlys has raised USD 12 million in a Series A round led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India) and Elevation Capital. The funds raised will be used to expand the platform’s product offerings for travellers, attract customers, and further strengthen the team through talent acquisition.